


Andraste's Mabari

by GreyCatbird



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Animal Death, Character Death, I'm Sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-07 15:50:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16856899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyCatbird/pseuds/GreyCatbird
Summary: Based on the song Andraste's Mabari found in Dragon Age Inquisition.  I did not change the plot of the song.  The dog still dies.  But I did my best to give the mabari a good life and good fights before hand.





	Andraste's Mabari

Every Mabari has a human. The one they will fight with, follow, and defend until death. When I met mine it was in chaos.

 

Us Mabari had been place in our wooden enclosures for the night when we were woken by the noise. The humans in robes with sticks we couldn't bite were screaming and running. Some of them grabbed what they could and ran. Others stayed and fought, throwing fire and ice against the invaders. I couldn't see the invading humans but I could smell them. They smelled almost similar to us Mabari, instead of the incense and blood of the humans who raised us smelled like. I slammed into the wooden bars that held the group of us. Over and over until it splintered and gave way. I had every intention to protect those who had raised and fed me when I ran onto the battlefield but as I joined the fray I saw her and paused. She had blood splattered on her face, and she smelled of dirt, blood, and ash. She stood as a bulwark against the people I’d known my entire life. While behind her people fled. People I had seen before. The humans who had collars around their hands and feet. The humans who I had seen treated cruelly. The ones who had been treated as no member of a pack should be treated. And yet the ones in robes would treat the ones who had collars with such cruelty. And in that moment I knew what she fought for. She fought to bring those humans into her pack and to give them the safety all creatures need. And I knew this was the human for me. I ran forward with new purpose and bit a man I'd seen many times by the back of the neck, dragging him down and pinning him. She slammed her weapon through his chest. She looked at me with a smile and simply said.

“Good dog”

 

The battle was fierce and long. For a while it seemed like there was no end and yet when it ended it seemed like no time at all. My hide was streaked with ash, blood, and dirt. My muzzle and paws almost an unrecognizable colour. I could barely recognize my own scent. I had never fought this hard before. I was shaking and panting, as I collapsed down on my haunches. She stood and looked over the scene around us. Then looked at me.

“I’ve heard of the loyalty and fierceness of the Mabari. It is said when they choose a partner they follow them to the ends of the world. I am honoured that you would follow me.” She looked at me with pride.

Then her eyes softened and she knelt down to my height. “But I have much to do, young pup. There will be many more battles like this one. There will be harder battles than this one. We will not be safe and we may die. We will never settle or have a permanent home. If you’d like to leave I would not think less of you.”

I huffed and stood up on my shaky legs. I looked her in the eyes and gave her my bravest bark.

“You are my human. I have seen what you do. I have fought beside you. And I will stay beside you until the Maker calls me.” Humans don’t understand our barks, but our connection was deeper than language.

“Well then it is settled isn’t it. Let us go help look for survivors. The fighting may be over but there is still much work to do.”

 

My human kept me busy. After the fighting there was helping others. I helped by digging through rubble to find people and dragging them from the battlefield to a white tent or to a hole in the ground I had helped dig.

After that she met with other humans. A thick heavy man with a furred cloak who spent nights in her tent and a slender man with long ears and quick fingers. They would stare at the table for hours, moving pieces of wood and talking long into the night. I could not help her out here as much as I would have liked but I’d lay on her feet to keep the chill off. I’d leave to steal a roast of meat from the fire and bring it to her. Eventually the cooks figured out that I was on important business to help my human and soon started giving me a basket of food for her instead.

But sometimes she would stop. Regardless of where we were she would stop and stare blankly ahead. It was the Maker sending her visions. I’d lean against her to help keep her upright or gently help her to sitting down. When she was done speaking to the Maker she raced off to tell the other humans of what she had seen.

The slender one with long ears always listened appreciatively when she told them of her visions. The thick heavy man would look at her with a smile and pride in his eyes.

At least that is how he was at the beginning. As time went on and the winters came and went and grey started growing around my muzzle, more people came to hear what she had to say and she spend less time with him. He smiled less but still reminded faithful to her and the pack. I never understood the actions he later choose.

 

One night as I lay sleeping, curled up at her feet I was awoken by noises outside her door. Shuffling of boots, a rustling of fabric and an old smell I couldn't quite place. I stood up but she remained sleeping, so I nosed the door open.

The thick heavy man was standing with humans in robes. They smelled wrong. Like the same ash, blood, and dirt as the day I met her. I growled at the strange newcomers, and the thick heavy man reached for the large hammer on his back. But he turned from them and faced me instead. Before I could move from his path, my paws become cold. One of the robed humans had frozen them to the ground. The thick heavy man approached me as I couldn’t move, his hammer raised above his head. He had betrayed all of us.

“You will not stop this, dog” He growled as he brought the hammer down on the back of my neck.

 

I awoke to noise. The sun was up and men were running and shouting. Grabbing swords, shields, armour, anything. Everything was in chaos. I tried to move my paws and found they were no longer frozen. I struggled to stand. The front left one collapse under my weight. I looked at the paw. The leg had broken under the hammer. From the shoulder down to the paw it would not move. I walked, careful of the injury, and went back to her tent. She was not there.

Pain was ignored for panic as I started to run faster. In the mud and confusion I lost her trail. At last I came upon the slender long eared man who stared down at me with sadness in his eyes.

“They have taken her, but we will get her back”

 

When we arrived in the city it was the next night. Darkness had fallen and it was the longest I had been away from my human. We marched into an open field. The maker had granted us a full moon to see by as we came upon the warring pack of humans. The human were on either side of a large platform. In the middle of the platform I could see her. Tied to a stake, blood down her face, screaming for us to leave. But we would not leave without her.

We charged forward. My teeth were bared, muscles on alert to dodge the fire and ice they would throw. But the warring humans didn't move. Simply stood waiting.

And then the arrows rained down. Hundreds of sharp needles fell into the humans around me. They had hidden archers behind their lines where we could not see them. Humans around me feel one after another. Arrows landed in my back, pain slowing my charge until all the death the surrounding me became too much. I stumbled and fell, and humans did the same. I was stuck under one. I lay there for a moment, injured, old and tired.

But I had to rescue my human. I pushed against the body on top of me. My human needed me. I ignored the pain. I had to protect her. I careful dragged myself up. The arrows had stopped. All around me were the bodies of my pack. I was the only one left. I made my way forward to her.

Some of the warring humans raised their weapons but one man called out. I looked at the man and he nodded at me. I turned back towards her slowly limping up the stairs and stood before her.

I looked up at her, tied to the stake. I could smell the smoke of the fire that licked the bottom of the platform. She had tears running down her face, I could see where they had run through the blood on her face. She looked down at me; one leg unusable, arrows sticking out of my hide, my white muzzle red with blood. I looked around us. Our pack was dead. This would not be a rescue.

I leaned against her side, understanding that this was our end and letting her know I would not let her face it alone. It was time to go back to the Maker. Time for the both of us. She struggled against the ropes maneuvering her hand to scratch behind my ear. I laid down at her feet and waited for the fire and Maker to take us.

She looked at me with a smile and simply said.

“Good dog”

 


End file.
